April 06, 2011

Happy Birthday, Merle Haggard

On behalf of music lovers everywhere, I'd like to wish Merle Haggard a very happy 74th birthday. Merle was born on April 6, 1937 in Oildale, California just a few miles north of Bakersfield. To help you get into the proper celabratory mood, here's Skeeter Harmon's Merle Haggard tribute 45.

I'd like to thank Ichiban boss Debbie D for sending me one of my favorite Merle Haggard photos, which can be seen below. One very nice feature of the picture is its caption, which helpfully points out that Merle is on the left and Smokey Bear is on the right. One would think that Merle's guitar strap and Smokey's hat would have made such a caption unneccesary, but better safe than sorry I guess.